Sally Wallace to Step Down as Dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

ATLANTA—Sally Wallace, dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, will step down from her position effective Jan. 18, 2023. She is moving to Ernst & Young LLP, where she will be a Managing Director in the Quantitative Economics and Statistics practice.

Ann-Margaret Esnard, Distinguished University Professor, will serve as interim dean in 2023; a national search for a permanent dean will begin in the spring semester.

Since 2018, Wallace served as dean of one of the nation’s top 20 policy and public affairs colleges, leading in strategic efforts for innovation in policy education, research and service.

“Georgia State owes Dean Wallace an incredible debt of gratitude for her longstanding service to the university,” said President M. Brian Blake. “We wish her the absolute best and know that the Andrew Young School will be in very good hands with Interim Dean Ann-Margaret Esnard.”

Among her many duties, Wallace led the college’s Digital Landscape strategic initiative, advancing new academic experiences and career directions for students. Activities include the development of policy analytics programs and courses, aiding in the launch of the Data Science for Public Service Consortium (DS4PS), and the AYS Open program, an open-source program that has saved more than $800,000 for more than 10,000 students since 2019. Additionally, the Georgia Policy Labs were launched in 2017, focused on harnessing big data to support evidence-based policy making.

Additionally, Wallace oversaw Georgia State’s membership in the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), a partnership of prestigious colleges and universities dedicated to building the field of public interest technology and developing related academic programs and experiences.

“Through the digital transformation launched under Dean Wallace, the Andrew Young School has made major contributions to the university’s greater strategic vision in research and innovation benefitting our society, and in preparing our students for future careers,” said Nicolle Parsons-Pollard, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. “I am grateful for her leadership, and I thank her for playing a significant role in laying the groundwork for ongoing innovation and excellence in education.”

Wallace has served as a faculty member in the economics department since 1991, including five years as department chair, where she helped establish the Center for State and Local Finance. She also served AYS as associate dean for research and strategic initiatives and as the director of the Fiscal Research Center.

Esnard, future interim dean, joined Georgia State in 2013 as part of the “Shaping the Future of Cities” cluster during the university’s Second Century Initiative. In 2017, she joined the Dean’s Office in AYS as associate dean for research and strategic initiatives which in March 2022 was changed to associate dean for research and faculty affairs.

Esnard’s research expertise encompasses urban planning, disaster planning, vulnerability assessment and GIS/spatial analysis. She has been involved in several multidisciplinary multi-institutional National Science Foundation-funded projects on topics that include population displacement from catastrophic disasters, school recovery after disasters, long-term recovery and community resilience.